China Development Bank provides loan guarantees to Venezuelan oil company

China Development Bank agreed to provide loan guarantees to Venezuela’s state-run Petroleo de Venezuela (PdVSA), in order to construct an oil refinery in Brazil, Dow Jones reported. CDB will provide 75% of the guarantees PdVSA needs to shoulder its part of the US$15 billion refinery, built in cooperation with Brazil’s state-run Petroleo Brasileiro (Petrobras; PBR.NYSE, XPBR.BMAD). BNDES, Brazil’s state-back development bank, provided a US$5.7 billion loan for the project, of which PdVSA is responsible for 40% and Petrobras is responsible for 60%. BNDES said it had approved guarantors for the deal, but declined to identify them. Local Brazilian media reported that CDB came in only after a previous plan including Portugal’s Banco Espirito Santo (BES.Euronext) fell through due to the ongoing eurozone sovereign debt worries.